MILWAUKEE — Sean Pedulla had 20 points, eight assists and four steals and Jaemyn Brakefield added 19 points as sixth-seeded Ole Miss dominated No. 3 seed Iowa State 91-78 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament’s South Region on Sunday.
Ole Miss (24-11) will face second-seeded Michigan State (29-6) in the Sweet 16 on Friday in Atlanta. The Spartans defeated New Mexico 71-63 later Sunday.
Ole Miss trailed 13-5 early but answered with a 23-4 run. Matthew Murrell converted a three-point play to put the Rebels up 28-17 with 7:22 left in the first half.
The Rebels led 40-29 at the half and extended their cushion to 54-37 on consecutive 3-pointers by Pedulla and Brakefield. Jaylen Murray hit a pair of free throws to put the Rebels up 61-40 with just under 13 minutes remaining.
Malik Dia’s free throw put the Rebels in front 78-52 with 5:40 left, but the Cyclones kept battling and pulled within 85-75 with 1:20 left on Curtis Jones’ 3-pointer.
Ole Miss shot 58.2 percent, including 57.9 percent (11 of 19) beyond the arc. The Rebels hit 19 of 28 shots in the second half for 67.9 percent, including 6 of 8 3-pointers.
The Rebels had a 20-7 edge in points off turnovers, forcing 15 Iowa State miscues.
“It’s really important for us to try and take care of the ball,” Ole Miss head coach Chris Beard said. “Iowa State’s one of the best teams in the country on forcing turnovers, 16, 17 a game on average. … We had three turnovers in the first four minutes. But then to play the rest of the game, about 38 minutes of basketball with only five turnovers, that was really the difference in the game from our perspective.”
Dia added 18 points, Murrell 15 and Murray 11 for the Rebels, who advancing to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2001.
“We came here to win a four-team tournament,” Beard added. “So, two down. It takes six to win the whole thing, so I just told the guys to enjoy this for about a half a day, and then we’ll get back to work tomorrow. We’re excited about our next opportunity in the Sweet 16.”
Jones had 26 points and Joshua Jefferson 16 with eight rebounds for Iowa State (25-10). Milan Momcilovic, who had 20 points in the Cyclones’ 82-55 first-round win over Lipscomb, had just five points on 2-of-12 shooting.
In the first half, the Cyclones hit just 1 of 12 shots over a 7 1/2-minute span before Jones’ 3-pointer halted the Rebels run and made it 28-20.
“I feel like we missed some good shots in the first half. They didn’t,” Jones said. “That’s really what caused that deficit going into halftime.”
Ole Miss shot 48.1 percent in the first half, including 5 of 11 from deep. The Rebels also were a perfect 9 of 9 from the line, including two by Brakefield for a 40-27 lead.
Iowa State head coach T.J. Otzelberger praised Ole Miss both offensively and defensively.
“They’re a team that plays with a lot of toughness,” he said. “They’re connected defensively, their switching can be disruptive. At times it wears on you mentally. You’re not able to get the ball in the paint and not get the normal plays that you want to make.”
“Offensively, they do a really good job within the realm of their motion, keeping the basketball on the move and not allowing our pressure to settle in. Both certainly paid off for them, and what we saw on film showed up for them tonight.”
–Jim Hoehn, Field Level Media
